Review: Lunch at Raglan Road in Walt Disney World’s Disney Springs

If you’ve visited Disney Springs recently, you know that the area once known as Pleasure Island is practically unrecognizable from what it was two years ago. Construction walls abound, and new restaurants and shops seem to be opening every day.

The good news is that those walls seem to be decreasing every time I visit. And so on a recent research visit, I headed over to Raglan Road to take a peek at some new cocktails and have a bite to eat!

Atmosphere

As I’ve said, if you haven’t visited for a while, all the work at Disney Springs is going to shock you. While Raglan Road used to stand front and center, easily viewable from the parking lots, now it’s a bit of a walk to get here from the nearest parking building.

Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant Without the Construction Walls

You should budget at least 10 minutes or so if you’re coming from the parking garage.

Raglan Road Currently, As Constructions Continues Around It

But once you navigate your way to the entrance, you’ll find familiar surroundings. The podium where you check in is located in the restaurant’s foyer. If the wait is long, plan on standing; there aren’t any seats in the waiting area.

Entrance Foyer

To the right is a gift shop, where you can purchase Guinness and Raglan Road memorabilia, in addition to other souvenirs from Ireland.

Gift Shop

The restaurant itself is divided into three rooms. The main room features two large bars, performance stages, and plenty of seating.

One of the Two Bars

The central dancing podium is the platform from an Irish church’s pulpit!

Dancing Podium and Stage

Ceilings soar in the main room, culminating in a cupola trimmed in stained glass.

Stained Glass Trimmed Cupola

Because of the hard surfaces and high ceilings, the main room can be extremely loud during the dinner hour, when there is live music and Irish dancing. The entertainment is top-notch, but it can make conversation impossible. We were visiting during lunch, however. So there was no live entertainment happening during our time there.

Things are slightly quieter in the Music room, where seating is comfortable and there’s plenty of natural light.

Music Room Seating

Music Room Seating

But the quietest seating of all is located in The Raglan Room. This cozy space offers lower ceilings and a beautiful fireplace as a focal point. I still haven’t ever been seated at that fireplace table, but I’ll keep my hopes up.

The Raglan Room

While there’s a comfortable feeling of familiarity about Raglan Road and its antique decor — much of it was salvaged from Irish Churches and Pubs and brought to Orlando — the restaurant keeps changing and updating. As they celebrate their 10th anniversary in 2015, they are making changes.

One of the big updates this year will be the dinnerware used in the restaurant. Up to now, the pieces have been a contemporary white. Soon, Raglan Road will change to china that has more of a homespun feel, in keeping with the spot’s antique feel.

(If you’re a Ger’s Bread Pudding fan, that wooden board in the lower left-hand corner — with the teacup and stainless steel sauce servers — will be the new look/feel for that dish.)

A Sneak Peek at Raglan Road’s New China

All things old are new again, right?

China — Up Close

So — that’s your latest tour of Raglan Road! Time for LONCH!!!!

Eats

Raglan Road is equal parts pub and restaurant, so you can expect attention to detail when it comes to both drink as well as food. But if you think the beverage menu begins with beer and ends with whiskey, you’re in for a pleasant surprise.

This time out, we decided on two drinks that I hadn’t previously tried.

First up was the Blood Orange Bourbon, a combination Bulleit Bourbon, Nollet’s Gin, and San Pellegrino Blood Orange. This one was powerful and fruity. I’m a huge fan of San Pellegrino Blood Orange, and enjoyed the bit of bubbly it gave to the drink.

Blood Orange Bourbon

My friend went with the Strawberry and Cucumber Mojito, which combined Captain Morgan’s White Rum, Strawberry Puree, Muddled Cucumber, Lime Sour, and Ginger Ale. There was a LOT going on here. While I’m not a huge cucumber fan, it lent this drink a distinct freshness, and the Ginger Ale gave the drink that trendy edge Raglan has been working to achieve.

Strawberry and Cucumber Mojito

On to the eats. The menu is extensive (and funny — be sure to take the time to read), and we’ve tried and enjoyed several of the Appetizers here. I always recommend the soup — regardless of what it is! I’ve never had a bad soup at Raglan Road. That’s mostly because every soup seems to include copious amounts of cream and butter. The Wild Forest Mushroom Chowder is my favorite even though I don’t like mushrooms. Go figure.

Menu — Appetizers and Sangers (Sandwiches) — Click to Enlarge

There are some hearty Entree Salads available as well.

Menu — Salads — Click to Enlarge

Finally, an extensive offering of Entrees rounds out the menu.

Menu — Entrees — Click to Enlarge

Meals at Raglan Road always start with complimentary bread service, featuring Irish Brown Bread and a Bread Dipping Sauce of Guinness Reduction and Olive Oil. This is usually a favorite part of the meal for any guests I bring to Raglan. The Guinness Reduction is very sweet, so it gives the dipping sauce a bit of a honey flavor. Pretty delicious. You can buy the stuff in the gift shop and my mom always has to get, like, three bottles on her way out. 😉

Bread and Guinness Reduction

Post-bread, we chose a dish I hadn’t tried before to start — Kiss Before Shrimp. The name refers to the presence of a LOT of Garlic.

Kiss Before Shrimp

The Pan Seared Shrimp also features flavors of Chili and Butter, and is served with a sliced Baguette for enjoying the leftovers.

There’s a reason this dish has been on the menu forever; it’s pretty outstanding. It’s savory more than salty, and slightly spicy — but still light. This would be a great, simple entree if you’re a shrimp fan; but as a shareable appetizer, there’s plenty for everyone. That said, definitely request more bread for dipping!

Kiss Before Shrimp — Up Close

We both chose to go the route of sandwiches for our entrees. I spotted the Three Times a Boxty on the menu and wondered why I’d never had it before. Um…ham, cheddar, pan-seared potato cakes, and a fried egg? Wha?!? Why have I not eaten this?

For those, like me, who have never heard the term “Boxty” before — it’s a unique type of potato pancake, as they smoosh together both mashed and grated potatoes.

Three Times a Boxty

Here’s a close up of that pretty fried egg. Love those brown, seared edges.

Egg — Up Close

The dish comes with a choice of side, and I went for the Colcannon Potatoes for two reasons: 1) I was clearly in the potato mindset with that whole “boxty” thing, and 2) The Mashed Potatoes and Cabbage combo here is pretty delicious and I’d never given it the attention (read: stomach space) I’ve wanted to in the past.

Super pretty, right? And so much flavor. This is the side dish that you’re going to have to have someone personally remove from your presence in order for you to stop stuffing your face with it. Oh, wait, maybe that’s just me?

Colcannon Potatoes — Up Close

My friend went with a sandwich that is relatively new to the menu — the Lobster Club. For a side, she went with Roasted Vegetables.

Lobster Club and Vegetables

The sandwich features a Lobster and Avocado Salad paired with Watercress and Crispy Pancetta. She was a big fan of this flavor and texture combo.

Lobster Club — Cross Section

Citrus Herb Mayonnaise ties all of the flavors together.

Lobster Club — Up Close

The roasted veggies didn’t seem like anything to write home about, which just goes to show that you should always order the potatoes. ;-D

Finally, we indulged completely by ordering one of my favorite things ever — the Irish Vintage Cheese and Bacon Dip, pictured here with a side of Chips. It’s on the menu at Cookes of Dublin, Raglan Road’s counter service/takeaway option around the corner from the main restaurant. But since they share a kitchen, you can score it here as well. There’s your DFB Tip for Today.

Chips and Vintage Irish Cheddar Dip

Having enjoyed a thoroughly filling meal, we decided to skip dessert this time around. But here’s the Dessert Menu so that you can get an idea of what they offer.

Dessert Menu — Click to Enlarge

We can highly recommend the aforementioned Ger’s Bread and Butter Pudding, served with Butterscotch and Custard Sauces. #AlwaysGetMoreSauce

Ger’s Bread and Butter Pudding with Butterscotch and Custard Sauces

The Trifle Sinful features fresh flavors of Jam-laced Swiss Rolls, Berries, Custard, Fresh Cream, and Almonds. And Fluffy Lemon Clouds combines Lemon Curd and Meringue in a classic Tart. You can’t go wrong with any of these classic flavors.

Overall

Raglan Road continues to impress.

If you go to Raglan Road expecting only traditional Irish fare, you may come away perplexed. You will find nods to classic dishes, like Shepherd’s Pie and Fish and Chips. But you also find something equally interesting to the open-minded: a glimpse of what’s happening in the Irish Food Scene currently.

Right now, Ireland is a hot bed of activity when it comes to the Slow Food, Farm to Table Movement. It’s a natural fit, since there is so much rich agriculture in the country. But it’s interesting to see that Raglan Road continues not to showcase only the classics, but to attempt to convey a picture of what’s happening from a food perspective in Ireland currently.

But when it comes to a straight-up recommendation, I’ve honestly not had a bad meal here, and that’s saying something.

Will you be dining at Raglan Road on your next Disney World trip? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

Comments

The Blood Orange Bourbon sounds amazing! I’ll have to try it next May when we’re down there. This is one of our favorite restaurants – we eat there at least twice every time we’re at Disney. We’ve tried almost everything on the menu, but I always go back to the fish & chips. I have a gluten-allergy and this is the only place I can get good (no, delicious!) gluten-free fish & chips.

We’ve always enjoyed the food, service and atmosphere and looked forward to stopping in every time we went to WDW but after being treated like crap the last time we went we are happy to leave an extra table open for those who haven’t been dumped on yet!

My husband and I enjoyed lunch there last week. We both loved the dipping sauce and bread! I had the Tart Art, which was delicious. My husband enjoyed his Lobster Club!! We both look forward to visiting again on future trips!!

Keith — We have a good overview of the Four Seasons Orlando restaurants in this post. On this blog, we focus on restaurants in the Disney theme parks and Disney Springs/Downtown Disney, and Disney-owned hotels primarily, because those are the restaurants that our readers have told us they’d like to hear about. From time to time we’ll feature restaurants that are not located in Disney-owned hotels, or that are in proximity to the parks and resorts but are not Disney-owned. Thanks for letting us know of your interest in the Four Seasons restaurants. We will absolutely take that into consideration as we plan our coverage in the future.

Absolutely adore Raglan Road – we’ve never had a bad meal there and love the atmosphere (at any time of the day). I’m a Brit too, so it’s not like we don’t have a million pubs here – but it’s still one of our few ‘must dos’ each trip.

This is the 1st time in a while we won’t be at WDW for the Food and Wine Festival so we won’t be back until next year – I’m so excited to see the Disney Springs transformation as we won’t have been for a while, the difference is going to be huge!

That shrimp dish looks delicious! I’ve always heard that the food at Ragland Road is really heavy, but the food in this post looks relatively light! I’m extremely curious about that lobster club… looks like something I would either really love or really hate lol! Might just have to try it!

1st time I ever paid $18 for a glass of wine!
I was waiting to meet an old friend here while my family and I were staying at Disney and ordered a glass of Chardonnay.
The bartender said ‘oak or non-oaked?’
I said ‘oak please.’
If it’s not aged in oak, it’s not Chardonnay, right?
So I put a $20 on the bar and imagine my shock when he returned just 74-cents (6% tax included) in front of me.
It was served in an over-sized wine glass so the standard 5 oz. pour made it look like there was very little wine in the glass.
When my friend got there, his pint of beer was $8.
I realize Disney is expensive but this borders on outrageous.
The wine was supposed to be a reserve Chardonnay (that’s a marketing thing) and frankly it wasn’t anything special. Certainly not worth $18!
I later checked the drink menu (should have done that first) and the non-oak Chardonnay was $12.
Bottom line – if you’ve got money to burn this place is for you.

I never really thought of this as a lunch destination, but I’m glad to read after this that they don’t offer entertainment during the daytime. Even though some of these food offerings look interesting, IMO Raglan Road is meant to be enjoyed while it’s rowdy and noisy. One of my best Disney memories is when the cloggers came out and danced with our kids. Your mileage may vary.

I can count on one had how many times i have walked out of a restaurant in my lifetime so when it happened on my Disney vacation it was extremely disappointing . myself and my wife both ordered the steak , the first time it came out it had a vain running right threw it and to make matters worst it was ice cold . literally cold to the touch. the manager came over and looked and touched it herself and verified the steak was ice cold. she then had us wait another 20 min for new steaks . i then cut into mine and you guessed it yet again it was ice cold and to make matters worst the potatoes under it were cold and hard as well. what a disgrace . the manager with attitude then ripped both plates off the table. the waitress then came over and told us to “have a good night”…. fine by me , to avoid being seriously ill on my vacation which cost me over 4000.00 we walked right out . i overheard several comments that were being made while waiting for steak number 2 regarding it being too dark and too loud . i wouldn’t recommend this place if the food was free . avoid if at all possible